Chapter 2

Soon after his meeting with Deaton, Stiles is in the middle of researching magic online, specifically anything about Sparks, when he finds mention of a book that discusses the different kinds of Sparks. That is a surprise to Stiles who didn't know that there was more than one. Luckily, a used bookstore in San Francisco has the book so Stiles lets his dad know and he plans a day trip and drives to the coast to visit the bookstore. Arriving at the eclectic shop, he quickly realizes that this bookstore is more than it appears. He not only finds the book he was looking for, but he also spots mountain ash and wolfsbane sitting among the shelf of 'magical ingredients'.

"Can I help you?" asks a woman who has an ageless quality that makes her look like she could be anywhere from mother to grandmother. There is still youth and fire in her appearance, suggesting she is on the younger side, but there is something in her eyes that scream wisdom and experience that says she is much older than she looks. That or she has seen some bad things. He can see the easy going and sweet nature she shows to the world but he can also tell that there is a core of strength there as well. Stiles likes her.

"Yes, I want to get this copy of Magic and it's Sources by Dimond" Stiles says laying down the old book and noticing the woman's slightly raised eyebrow.

"That's a very unique book" she hums pleasantly. "Anything in particular that interested you in it?" she asks looking at the teen in front of her.

"It…sparked…my interest" Stiles says laughing inside at his own joke and noticing that the woman seemed to get it by the smile on her face.

"Well, it does that for some people. Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asks politely but still looking amused.

"Is that real mountain ash?" he asks as she pulls down a jar and nods.

"Yes it is. Do you know how to use it correctly?" she asks with a knowing smile. Stiles looks around the store and realizes that he is the only customer and the other employee is looking bored, staring at her phone, and ignoring them. Smirking, Stiles takes a handful of the ash and looks right at the woman and throws his hand up, tossing the ash into the air. Focusing on what he wants to happen, Stiles is unsurprised when the ash falls in a perfect circle surrounding him, creating a shield against supernatural harm.

The woman claps happily when she sees that. "Oh you are wonderful" she laughs. Waving her hand Stiles gasps as the ash surrounding him suddenly rushes towards her and basically jumps back in its jar. "I have some other books you might like?" she says it like there is any doubt but Stiles nods in excitement anyway.

The next two hours results in Stiles buying over a dozen books, plus the jar of ash, from the woman who he finds out is a witch named Martinique who has lived in San Francisco for over forty years. She tells him that she is a witch, a good one she adds with a smirk, that she has a small coven in town, and that she first thought he might be a witch too, but when she looks carefully, she cannot detect the witch mark. Disappointed at that, he was still happy with how open and helpful she was being.

Stiles returned with plenty to read and study, a new friend who is willing to help him, and suggestions for what to do next. The first book explained how magic manifested in different ways for people and the term 'Spark' refers to the general ability to work magic. There were some things that everyone could do, like making a mountain ash circle, but most things were limited to the different domains of magic. Martinique was a Witch while Deaton was a Druid and both of them were closely associated with nature though in different ways. There were also Necromancers, those who dealt with the dead and the spirits of those who have died. They often got a bad rep, but reading about them surprised Stiles who decided that power wasn't evil, just complicated. There were also Alchemists who specialized in potions, herbology, and transfiguration and those in the domain of Magecraft who made magical artifacts and items like wands, amulets, and other tools to channel magic.

The last type of magic was sorcery and it was the most powerful and dangerous. Sorcerers messed with the fundamental forces of the universe and could do some serious shit. They were led by the Sorcerer Supreme, the most powerful sorcerer in the world. In the book the Sorcerer Supreme was also called 'The Ancient One', which Stiles determined was not a title but an actual person, but the book was written over a century ago so he wasn't sure who the new Sorcerer Supreme was. The book mentioned Kamar-Taj as the home of the Ancient one which is really exciting because one of the other books Martinique got him to buy was apparently a book from the library at Kamar-Taj, or at least a copy of one.

Stiles tore through the books over the next two weeks before he was calling Martinique to ask for more, getting a laugh from the older woman. She told him that she had talked to a friend of hers about Stiles and he wanted to meet the teen. The man, Kiran, was a monk at a temple outside the city and Stiles went to visit the man on the next Saturday where he met and spent some time with the monk. Kiran had the gift of Magecraft and he sadly told Stiles that while he at first thought that Stiles might share that gift, he couldn't actually detect the mark when he really looked for it.

Stiles was disappointed, but when Kiran offered to teach him meditation techniques as well as martial arts, he recovered his enthusiasm quickly. Stiles returned three more times for more lessons but Kiran was really smart and provided him with exercises that he could do at home and alone. He also gave Stiles several books to help him study independently and he found that after two weeks of mediation, he was needing less and less Adderall. His focus and clarity was loads better than ever before.

"Stiles?" his dad's voice was a surprise but he didn't let it interfere. Stiles was in his back yard, stripped to his sweatpants, going through the moves from the book on martial arts. The movements were very slow, but they were very deliberate to get his muscles used to the motion. He felt the stress and strain as he stretched, reached, and twisted. He continued through a few more poses before he returned to his 'neutral' stance and opened his eyes and looked at his father who was staring at him from the patio.

"Hey dad. You get off work early?" he asks walking towards the deck and reaching for the towel to wipe away the sweat he had worked up.

"No kiddo, it's nearly seven" the Sheriff told him with a raised eyebrow that morphed into a laugh at Stiles startled expression.

"Sorry dad, I guess I lost track of the time. I meant to make dinner before you got home" he apologized and pulled on his shirt and walked in the house to the kitchen.

"Stiles…how long were you out there?" Sheriff Stilinski asks.

Stiles pauses and has to think. He had lunch, did about an hour or so of meditation before doing some reading before he felt the itch to go to the backyard and that was near…three? "I guess about four hours" he figured adding it up.

"You were doing martial arts for four hours?" his dad's voice and expression was one of disbelief. "You. Exercising. For four hours?" he repeated numbly.

Stiles was slightly offended. Sure he didn't really like physical exertion, but that didn't mean he was hopeless. He did play Lacrosse, including practices and suicide drills that Coach pushing them to their limits. "It's something Kiran taught me to help me focus. Meditation and martial arts" Stiles added as he pulled out food to prepare them a healthy meal.

"Who's Kiran. And you are now meditating?" his dad couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice as he tried to figure out what had happened to his son.

"Kiran is a monk in San Francisco and yes I am meditating. It really helps me focus and relax" Stiles tells him. This leads to a long discussion, edited for any mentions of magic or the supernatural, where Stiles tells his dad about meeting Martinique and Kiran and how he has been following Kiran's program and how much he was enjoying it. His dad, still rather surprised, then asks about Scott.

"Scott," Stiles sighs heavily, "Scott is wrapped up in the whole Allison love thing and pretty much can't focus on anything else" he finally explains and pretends not to see his father's worried expression as he stares at his son.

On his next trip to San Francisco, Stiles has a great visit with Kiran and then Martinique when he realizes it is getting late and she offers to let him crash on her couch for the night. Calling his father, the sheriff approves him staying over and so he has a great dinner and evening with Martinique and several of the members of her coven that come over. He thoroughly enjoys himself before heading home the next morning.

Several days later he finds out that the pack and Scott had fought three ogres in the preserve that had wandered in and started causing trouble. Stiles frowned when Erica had mentioned it casually when he saw her at the coffee shop that morning but Stiles figures out that not only had they done it all without him, no one had even tried to call or talk to him about it. Stiles quickly leaves before he could give himself away to the female beta when he realized that they really didn't need him anymore.